Delaware River Shad Fishermen to discuss shad restoration

OUTDOOR RAMBLINGS

If there's just one outdoors group meeting you're going to make this year, clear your schedule for Wednesday evening.

The Delaware River Shad Fishermen's Association is holding its regular monthly meeting, with important speakers addressing key issues in shad restoration in the Lehigh and Delaware river watersheds.

The meeting, which is open to the public, begins at 7 p.m. in the social hall at the Se-Wy-Co Fire Company on Route 378, south of Bethlehem.

Christopher M. Kocher, president of Wildlands Conservancy, will speak on several exciting issues relating to the success of re-integrating the American shad into the Lehigh River. He will speak on Lehigh River restoration, fish passage, the shad run and water quality improvement.

Kocher, along with Daryl Pierce, the Delaware River coordinator for the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission, will take part in a question-and-answer session with the public after Kocher's presentation.

John Berry, a member of the fishermen's association, reports that the shad spawning tank in Easton's Hugh Moore Park holds 18 male, or buck, shad, and three female, or roe, shad. Efforts are under way to increase the numbers to 36 bucks and 24 roe for an ideal spawning situation capable of producing up to 2 million eggs, with half of them being viable to fry hatch, and eventually release them in the Lehigh River.

He also said efforts are under way to construct similar shad spawning tanks in Allentown and Philadelphia.

Earth Day festivities: Several organizations have activities planned for Earth Day, which is Saturday.

Wildlands Conservancy is holding Earth Day cleanups at Canal Park, Trout Creek Park and Jordan Meadows in Allentown, and along the Jordan Creek Parkway in Lehigh County. Wildlands will provide gloves, vests and trash bags for the cleanups.

For information on where to meet or to register, contact Stephanie Bortz and 610-965-4397, ext. 112, or email her at sbortz@wildlandspa.org.

Hawk Mountain Sanctuary near Kempton will focus on spring migration and recycling during several programs at the mountain, including recycling of old cellphones and rechargeable batteries at the Call2Recycle table in the Visitors Center.

The Outdoor Amphitheater will feature the M&T "Raptors Up Close!" program at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m., with a live hawk or owl. International interns will explain tracking and trapping programs that study migrant birds. Chris Sacchi, a biology professor at Kutztown University, will take people on a "Learn Your Tree" walk at 1 p.m., to learn about native vegetation and how to identify some of the most common native species in the region.

For directions to Hawk Mountain Sanctuary or for information on Saturday's programs, go to http://www.hawkmountain.org or call 610-756-6961.

Anti-Earth Day activity on SGL 205: Kevin Halbfoerster, the wildlife conservation officer of the Pennsylvania Game Commission for Lehigh County, reported that two pickup loads of trash were recently dumped in a parking lot for State Game Lands 205 off Scheirers Road in Schnecksville.

"The investigation revealed that the individuals involved placed an advertisement on Craigslist indicating cheap trash removal," he said in his report to the Game Commission. "After confronting the individuals about the incident, they admitted to the dumping and have since cleaned up the lot. Citations have been filed with the local magisterial district judge."

Spring gobbler youth hunt on Saturday: Earth Day and the youth spring gobbler hunt coincide this year. Pennsylvania youth can enjoy time appreciating Earth's bounty in the early spring during the annual hunt, which runs from one half hour before sunrise until noon on Saturday. The general spring gobbler season opens April 28 and runs through May 31.

"On the positive side, a higher proportion of hens likely will be incubating nests by opening day thanks to the unusually early spring, making gobblers more vocal in search of hens," said Carl G. Roe, Game Commission executive director. "Also, gobblers are in good condition this spring because of the very mild winter, which means those healthy males may just continue gobbling and looking for mates throughout the hunting season.

"However, on the negative side, the early spring means leaves already are emerging, which will make it more difficult for hunters to hear and see their target, which will make it even more important to consider using a fluorescent orange band to alert other hunters to your stationary location or while moving."

The Game Commission's surveys show that spring turkey hunting has become so popular that there now are more spring turkey hunters (230,000) than fall turkey hunters (163,000). Spring harvests average 38,000 to 45,000 bearded birds, while fall harvests average 16,000 to 25,000 birds of either sex.

Game Commission meets next week: The quarterly meeting of the Game Commission is April 23-24 at the agency's headquarters on Elmerton Avenue in Harrisburg. On April 23, the commission will open its meeting at 8:30 a.m. by taking comments from the public on the proposed 2012-13 hunting and fur-taking seasons and bag limits. Individuals are limited to five minutes' speaking time and must register beginning at 7:45 a.m. for the first-signed-in, first-to-speak public commentary portion.

On April 24, the Game Commission will take up its prepared agenda, including final approval for the seasons and bag limits, as well as setting the antlerless deer license allocations for the coming season.